Guided By Voices
 

Sorry to make a typical "I think this band rulz, do you think they are rad?" thread but everytime I listen to Guided By Voices I think shit why dont i listen to this band more often.

I dont know whats so great about this band, maybe just great songwriting and the low-fi production.

I find this band really enjoyable.

Whaddayathink?

awesome band ! Bob is just a brilliant songwriter.

I hear people say they are overrated, and I vehemently disagree. Consistently good albums. Pollard's side stuff is even more amazing.

I sold a Jandek LP to Bob Pollard a couple weeks ago.
How many "indie points" do I get for that?
It's like a double word score in Scrabble.


Bee Thousand rules.

You're now officially permitted to cuff your jeans at a ridiculous height.

Good pop. Better than the Beatles.

The production is probably the biggest part of the appeal for me.

haha, i say you win the pot with that one.


ANd yea, I love GBV. I've only heard their early stuff (up to alien lanes) but I love it. bee thousand is beyond genius IMHO. All those half-song collage pieces work together so well.

Their albums before bee thousand are strange because they actually have full song orientations... it's like on bee they decided to stop finishing writting songs and just cram it all together... a moment of inspired genius.

I love GBV. Check out this DVD if you already haven't.....it's pretty great and long as hell.

bee thousand and alien lanes are the shit. im still in the process of collecting a shit load of their stuff. the dvd is good, but near the later hours of the show theyre all just piss drunk. either way, guided by voices were amazing. one of the great 90s bands.

I saw GbV eight or nine times. Not only in my (our) hometown of Dayton, but all around these great United States. Pollard is opening for Pearl Jam in Cincy in June and might go just to check out the curiousity.

Ranking of GbV albums and ep's:

1) Bee Thousand (no question)
2) Alien Lanes (though not far behind)
3) Propeller (Quality of Armour, 14 Cheerleader, Large Hearted Boy, etc...)
4) Under the Bushes....
5) Do the Collapse (gets a lot of shit for overproduction, but I like it. Very catchy pop from the dial-flipping of Ric Ocasek).
6) Hold on Hope (ep) excellent pop from 1st to last track)
7) Shocker in Gloomtown (ep) not the right name, but it came out right before Bee 1000. Real great stuff.
8) Sunfish Holy Breakfast - Just because it has "If We Wait" on it. Classic GbV
9) Live at the Lounge Ax 1995 (bootleg) First, because I was there. Second because so was Kim Deal and she sang on Shocker in Gloomtown and Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory, and because it was right before Alien Lanes came out while it still had the working title of Scalping the Guru. And they did a bunch of great Alien Lanes songs before anyone else had heard them.
10) all the rest...it's all good stuff.

Bump, as I bought Alien Lanes today. I liked it on the first listen.

and all the sadness it implies, i've tasted with my own two eyes.

See this picture on my screen, do you know where you have been?

Tell me where that's from.

i love gbv, i'm in the process of aquiring as much gbv and pollard/sprout related stuff as i can

i saw them at a festival one year and they where as dull as hell. pollard was doing high kicks, not a pretty site.

yeah, when i saw them live they were rubbish too

Really? I thought they'd be good live. It'd probably be way higher fi than their recordings. Mind you, they are a lot older now (and disbanded).

when i saw them (2003) they sounded like a garage band version of oasis, they played for about 2 and a half hours aswell, which was far too long.

this was the gig http://www.gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=1338

yeah when i saw them they went on and on and on and on. i went and got something to eat and came back and they where still at it.

Bump. I bought Bee Thousand a coupla months ago and forgot to post it. Fucking love it. Excellect excellent and consistant album. I ordered Vampire on Titus and it should be here next week. I also taught myself to play every song on Bee Thousand on guitar. It's pretty easy. I'd also like to know what everyone's favourite GBV songs are. I suppose mine would be Tractor Rape chain or Game of Pricks.

too many to mention, but those two would certainly be on the list

I think i'll put Tonics and Twisted Chasers on the out of print records thread, it's a really good album.

That would be great! So far I love all the lo-fi GBV stuff I've heard (Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Sunfish Holy Breakfast, and a handful of tracks from Propeller, Vampire on Titus, and Under the Bushes...)

Alright then, i'll add it tomorrow morning in my providers off peak period.
By the way, I like your sig.

Thanks! It's the only one I've ever had. It's been with me for 17 months and a whopping 41 posts.

Great band. Robert Pollard has a very affecting voice. I can't listen to Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory without the hair on my neck standing up.

Sorry about not posting Tonics, I was busy Sunday morning. I should be able to do it Saturday morning though.

I love Alien Lanes to death.

I had the wonderful fortune of being able to see them on tour for that record, when I was about sixteen, and it was fuckin' incredible. I never found a GBV record I liked nearly as much... maybe it's the nostalgia factor, or the fact that it was on of the first records I became completely obsessed over, but I still like it a lot.

"Motor Away" and "My Valuable Hunting Knife" are classics of course, but "Watch Me Jumpstart" is far and away my favorite GBV song ever.

Fuck, it's probably my favorite song in general.

Awesome. I'd say Game of Pricks or Hit would be my favourite from Alien Lanes. Or perhaps Cigarette Tricks purely because it is the shortest song that I have ever heard. Oh, and my copy of Vampire on Titus was delayed by two weeks. Not happy :(

Ahh nevermind, you can buy Tonics... here http://rockathonrecords.com/music.html
I'd buy it if they took paypal.

I'll have to pick that one up sometime... While we're on the topic of Alien Lanes I'd say my favorite tracks are A Salty Salute (amazing opener), Closer You Are, and Motor Away. Although I usually just listen to the whole thing through anyway. I'm trying to decide whether to get Under the Bushes Under the Stars or Propeller next.

Propeller!

I've only heard one album.
I'll be picking some stuff up though.

as we go up, we go doooooowwwwwn

Yeah they're one of those bands where you can't just listen to one song off the album, you've gotta listen to the whole album. This at least applies for their lo-fi stuff. I ordered Propeller and it should get here before Vampire on Titus does.

Listening to Bee Thousand at the moment....good stuff.

I'm listening to Under the Bushes Under the Stars. It's really good but over-produced. If you're interested, there's a pretty cool GBV forum:
http://ragebox.com/dts/index.php
But to avoid spammers, you have to PM an admin saying "The Club is Open" before you can view and post anything.

This was posted on the GBV forum:

Fillmore
San Francisco
June 24, 2001

Disc 1: http://www.sendspace.com/file/s9embg
Disc 2: http://www.sendspace.com/file/a2iunr

1. Waved Out
2. I Drove A Tank
3. Settlement Down
4. Skills Like This
5. Twilight Campfighter
6. Chasing Heather Crazy
7. Edison's Memos
8. Stifled Man Casino
9. Want One?
10. Pivotal Film
11. The Enemy
12. Alone, Stinking And Unafraid
13. Glad Girls
14. Watch Me Jumpstart
15. Tight Globes
16. Instrument Beetle
17. Total Exposure
18. Sing It Out
19. Game Of Pricks
20. Mushroom Art
21. In Stitches
22. Soul Train College Policeman
23. Pop Zeus
24. Zoo Pie
25. Things I Will Keep
26. Liar's Tale
27. Shocker In Gloomtown
28. Psychic Pilot Clocks Out
29. Get Under It
30. Run Wild
31. Unspirited
32. Lethargy
33. The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
34. Teenage FBI
35. Submarine Teams
36. The Brides Have Hit Glass
37. Don't Stop Now
38. I Am A Scientist
39. Cut-Out Witch
Encore #1
40. A Salty Salute
41. Postal Blowfish
42. Hot Freaks
43. Motor Away
44. Baba O'Riley
Encore #2
45. Frequent Weaver Who Burns
46. Whiskey Ships
47. And I Don't (So Now I Do)
48. Peep-Hole
49. Smothered In Hugs

http://www.gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=1264